Stone (Warning, graphic picture)

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Yvonne G

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So, last year I had 3.4 Texas tortoises, then I got in a rescue and he was a male. The rescued tortoise was a "found" tortoise and I never could find his owner.

In the spring last year, I found the original 3 males dead in the hibernatorium. After a quarantine period, I put the rescue male with the females.

This spring I wondered why the new male had not come out of the hibernatorium, so I tore it all apart. He was dead...been dead for a long time. When I picked him up there was a heavy rattling inside his shell. He has a stone SO BIG that it won't fit through the arm holes to get it out.

The first picture shows 3 little stones that were also forming. You can see them to compare the size, just to the right and above the tortoise in the second picture:

05-10-13b_zpsb4d106e6.jpg


05-10-13a_zps8d849339.jpg


I tried sawing off the gular to free the stone, I tried to break the shellt with a hammer, I tried drilling holes...tortoise shell is a VERY hard medium. I don't know how dogs are so easily able to chew through it.
 

TommyZ

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What caused the deaths? Is that a stone that formed in their bodies from a buildup of some kind?

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Yvonne G

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I don't know why my original 3 died. And it was strange that it was only the males. By the time spring time rolled around there wasn't enough left to do a necropsy.

The stone forms because of diet or dehydration.
 

sibi

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Aww, what a shame it had this formation. If it was because of diet or dehydration, did it happen as he was hibernating? Is it possible that he had the stone there before he went into hibernation"
 

Yvonne G

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Oh yes. It takes a very long time for a stone to reach those proportions.
 

AZtortMom

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Wow!


Life is good
 

wiccan_chicken

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Was it food in his stomach that caused the stone formation? I'm sorry I don't quite understand. I'm very sorry.. Poor guys.
 

Yvonne G

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Stones are usually in the bladder. Lack of water and eating foods high in oxalic acid causes them to form. It's a small speck at first, with more layers being added as the years go by.

Here's a nice veterinary article about it:

http://www.azeah.com/Care-Sheets.asp?id=95
 

wiccan_chicken

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Yvonne G said:
Stones are usually in the bladder. Lack of water and eating foods high in oxalic acid causes them to form. It's a small speck at first, with more layers being added as the years go by.

Here's a nice veterinary article about it:

http://www.azeah.com/Care-Sheets.asp?id=95

So THATS why we stay away from Oxalic acid! Thank you for the information. Jeese I wonder how many years it took to form that huge thing..
 
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